Summit Ski & Breweries With MLC 10Mar23-13Mar23

Matt & I headed to Summit to catch some storms this past weekend. We arrived pre-storm on Fri afternoon after an easy drive and hit ORB - Bird Cafe for lunch and Syndicate for Matt's introduction to our latest local brewery.

Overnight Friday we received the expected 10" dumper that was forecast. The snow was like a spring storm and skiing Breck with Dave Sheldon was somewhat pushing mashed potatoes. NP, it was awesome being out on what turned out to be a bluebird powder day. It was a bit crowded with weekend day, new snow, and spring break activities in full swing. We grabbed a beer at Breck's fine Broken Compass before heading back to Silverthorne. Matt & Dave bonded over modern Linux intricacies and challenges and I struggled along. We stopped at AJ's on the way back to Wildernest for another 1st stop @ brewery for MLC ~ he may not seem impressed, but he was. We both enjoyed the 4th Year hazy. Food was good at Baker's and we posted a spa stop and early evening to bed with thighs blown up.

Sunday was a day of rest despite another 4" of fresh snow ~ given it being another weekend day. We did some TV viewing and network tuning and vowed to grab runs on Monday with Bro Brown. Uh... that didn't happen as we seemed to miss each other while spottily SMS texting on Keystone's mountains. Between Matt's meetings and work obligations we did grab some decent runs @ KS. We were happy to retire a bit early as the runs were pretty crowded and the thighs and feet were talking to us. We did score score some tasty Odyssey "Gone Tomorrow" hazy for the evening. Though, we cleaned up instead and headed back to the Front Range for the next event, The Beths concert on Tuesday night.

Windy & Chilly Day Out In 11 Mile Canyon 09Mar23

Well I tied some Pop Tops in olive to try on the S Platte (as I noticed similarly colored midges on my last outing here) and they worked fine today, fooling the several fish I landed. It was a windy & chilly day in the canyon with the S Platte running very low @ ~70cfs and ultra-clear. There were fewer cars heading up, just a dozen @ 11:45am, which was the good news. I could see plenty of decent fish but the bite was not fully "on" today, which was the bad news. Hands & toes got cold but I kept plugging away and caught my best this day, a 17"er, plus some others, all rainbows (more normal) and all on the Pop Top. The rainbow/cutbow finned off redds are obvious but no fish are on them here yet. I used my 9' 5+wt RF Cobalt Cutbow to cut through the wind ~ solid plan. I received my annual pass for this area from RMRC; it now a hang-tag rather than a window sticker, and it's price inflated 33% to $100!

Cold Day On The PT ~ Pop Top Fools Some Nice Cutbows 08Mar23

I headed to Pueblo late, ~12:30pm, and fished the Nature Center section. While it was a chilly 38° weekday I still encountered a number of inexperienced fishermen on the outing. I worked hard to stay away from them. Flows are still mighty low but the redds are now getting some occupation ~ I avoided them of course but did fish nearby where some large cutbows were resting and feeding. I didn't see much bug sign but spied a mayfly spinner on the water and a pale grey midge on my coat. I caught several nice fish over 3 hours from 1-4pm; those included a nice 18" female full of eggs and a very thick 20" male. I used the Rodfather Diamond Blaze 8.5' VFast 4wt ~ it is deadly accurate to 50ft or more. Decent day on the PT.

Best Buckskin Caddis Alternative - Shetland Yarn 07Mar23

I love the buckskin caddis fly larva in Colorado, especially on our freestone rivers. The problem is that buckskin material is kindof tough to deal with and results in inconsistencies in the tie. I've long sought alternative materials for this fly and had been tying it for a couple of years with a beige vinyl tube, until now. I read of a bug called the Utah Killer that was tied using yarn and has gotten lots of use as a sow bug or scud ~ yet the yarn for these is from a brand which carries an awesome color called buttermilk, which very effectively mimics buckskin. This is definitely a Colorado guide caddis ~ super simple & fast to tie, and (likely) very effective. Recipe:

• Hook: #16-#18 Daiichi 1150 Heavy or 1160 Klinkhammer, or any nice sized curved hook
• Thread: UTC 70 or 140 dark brown
• Body: Jamieson's Shetland Spindrift yarn in buttermilk color
• Head: Thread head coated with Sally Hansen's or UV cure epoxy

You can imagine the tie easily. The only real tips are to: 1) make a solid brown tie down of the yarn with directly abutting wraps as the yarn becomes translucent a bit when wet and the under-thread should be consistent as body internals and 2) twist the yarn a bit tighter during the palmering so the body is consistent. I bought the yarn HERE for ~$8 for 100 meters.

Extending Coffin's Pop Top Tailwater Winter Midge Family 04Mar23

Yesterday reminded me that olive midges are relevant in winter and early spring on the tailwaters. I'd focused the Pop Top on grey & maroon but I could easily add olive, and so I did. I did so in two variants: one with double threads and one with olive and XS black wire overwrap. I think it's best, aka most slim, to stick with the two thread body, but both will work. Below are the recipes for the Pop Top Family; how to tie Coffin's Pop Top is described HERE.

	Grey	Maroon	Olive	Olive Wire
Hook	#22 TMC 2488H	#22 TMC 2488H	#22 TMC 2488H	#22 TMC 2488H
Thread Body	Black & White UTC 70	Red & Black UTC 70	Olive & Black UTC 70	Olive UTC 70
Overbody	Sally Hansens Hard As Nails	Sally Hansens Hard As Nails	Sally Hansens Hard As Nails	Black XS Ultrawire
Thorax	Adam's Grey Superfine	Mahogany Superfine	Brown Olive Superfine	Olive Superfine
Emergent Wing	Grey Dun UV Ice Dub	Grey Dun UV Ice Dub	Grey Dun UV Ice Dub	Grey Dun UV Ice Dub

Here's the family...

A Day Of Browns On SPlatte In 11 Mile Canyon 03Mar23

A somewhat warm winter weekday moved me to head to 11 Mile Canyon for the first time this year. I had to drop off payment for the annual pass anyway... so let's go fishing. The road up the canyon was snow-packed and icy in spots (and wet & muddy in spots on the way out). I fished the head end as typical and saw ~15 cars in the canyon on my inbound trip. The Rodfather Diamond Blaze 8'6" 4wt I wielded was a blast, and deadly accurate. I caught a number of fish from 11a-2:30p, oddly enough including 3 browns. I think today was the 1st time I have ever caught 3 browns on the same day @ 11 Mile... it's predominantly a cutbow fishery. All the browns were Scottish. The fish were smaller today ~ the best two measuring just 16", one brown and one cutbow; the rest were 13"-15". I saw some larger fish in the highest deep hole but they didn't go for my medicine. Nonetheless, it was a blast being back in the canyon. I saw a number of redds that had been finned clear but no fish on them as yet. Flows are running a very low 57cfs and the water is gin clear. Midges were the ticket as expected and the blood midge, the money midge, my maroon pop top, and my awesome midge all took multiple fish ~ nobody hit the perdigon. At one point a couple of midges landed on my jacket and now I know I need to tie an olive pop top for this time of year in 11 Mile.

February Music Appreciation ~ Some Fav Bands' New Drops 28Feb23

We are already past Valentine's Day, so my spring concert dates are filling in nicely... next up live is King Princess @ Belly Up in Aspen with Yoho; that will be completely awesome. KP is an great newish artist who finally appeared on NPR Tiny Desk and is at Belly Up Aspen, my fav club sound, this weekend.

• King Princess... we are going to the after party in Aspen.
  

Still, recorded on YouTube is excellent from my seats in homes, and it allows faster audits of current and new favorites. Here are some recent drops from some of my more favored artists.

• Cuffed Up - Live On Audiotree 14Feb23 - Cuffed Up, LA, they made it prior to KEXP so yeah; wait. I love the right LA music. Just some EPs so far. Wicked cool. Panicked duo-leads is what attracted me. But Saphire has been replaced in this recent offer. Hmmm... new lady is fine but flat and not even credited, which is strange AF. I'm gonna remove them from the watch list. No live shows ~ no problem. Yet, if you wanna listen to the last Cuffed Up, head HERE for a listen-point and French Exit... where's Saphire now? If you ask me, go Asymmetry or don't go at all...
  
  
• Screaming Females - Mourning Dove & Desire Pathway 17Feb23 -  The prolific Marisa Paternoster is an awesome guitarist and writer. She fronts a tight NorJersey/Philadelphia hard rock band. I like nearly everything they do and I am finally getting to see them live on tax day at the Marquis. Her latest album of many is Desire Pathways and it's again worthy of the style, if not a smidge more pop sounding. Don Giovanni has and has had a big win here.
  
  
  
• Alex Lahey - Lahey did some keen stuff with her partner Gordi, also an strong Aussie, during the pandemic, but I've not heard much from her dissonant punk pop till very recently on the Official Vid For Good Time, grrr. Sure I snagged tix to her show in my hood... The Answer Is Always Yes. This especially since she cancelled the last show with The Regrettes (probably a good move, as their vibe has moved distinctively pop). Too, her version of Nat Imbrulia's cover of Torn is very good on Triple J.
  
• Sweet Pill - Yeah, anything they've done is very good. HERE is more of the current album live from Philly (Sep '22). Of course I have tickets to Black Sheep for their CO debut!
  
  
  
  
  
• The Beths - Auckland conservatory musicians ~ I tried to catch them on the N Island @ home in Auckland when there recently but they were touring the US. Uhh...they still are, so I grabbed tix for here in Colorado.
  
  
  Sure they are backed by all NZ public radio and works offer... 'cause they are they are that good. From the beginning they've been bizarrely integrated - especially the leads. Yes, Stokes leads with a cool AF breaking voice and Pearce follows with backing voice and shred lead guitar... but integration is complete here. The beat boys join vocals too. Their vibe is fun and their sound is gold. I sacrificed my ethics (staff accosted me on my last outing to this venue) as The Beths are playing. HERE is the recent, and uber-cool, ...Dying Field from them.
  
• Ani DeFranco - Peg & Scooter are inbound to the Nest so a perusal of Summit acts for that weekend is suggested. Ani is playing; she is one of the OGs in DIY and go direct. She's awesome so we have tix. HERE is her some recent stuff. HERE is her big time stuff 10 years ago.
  
• Sharon Silva - Since The Wild Reeds have stopped collaborating, and my fav of their contributors, Sharon Silva, "left" the band, I follow her separately. She remains singularly spectacular as a songwriter and performer. You can only find her on super-small studio releases; it is very worthwhile to so do. HERE is her most recent drop (there are 2 songs).
  
• boygenius - The Record is to be their latest album and they (or in solo concerts) have been playing pieces from it. Still there are no great live recordings of the new stuff... but there are lyric and official vids from The Record; here a playlist of what's in the can thus far. Worth it. UPDATE 3/1/23: Live HERE ~ 1st time since 2018.
  
  
  
• Neko Case - Neko is dropping new stuff ~ and it's like her to be of a uber-nature-vibe, even at live events. HERE she's at Lung in mid-'22 with Carl Newman, yeah of New Pornographers.